


Falling Apart

by Emmanuel Tennant (WriteMyHandOff)



Category: Code Black (TV), The Night Shift (TV 2014)
Genre: Fictional Hospital, Multi, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-15
Updated: 2016-07-15
Packaged: 2018-07-24 02:40:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7490004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WriteMyHandOff/pseuds/Emmanuel%20Tennant
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of tragedies tear our favorite Code Black and The Night Shift characters from their hospitals, and throws them into a world of chaos and pain. Who will survive, and who will lose their mind?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Falling Apart

TC Callahan ran into the emergency room that he was now controlling. His entire team was off at another hospital attack, and had left the ER empty with him as the only staff. From what he knew at the moment, another ER had been attacked, and everyone was being sent in. He ran out as he heard the sirens, but instead of seeing tons of ambulances, he saw five fire trucks and a couple police cars. 

A fireman climbed out of the first arriving fire truck and informed him, “These are the remaining staff from hat hospital. They are at your disposal, and you will run this ER like you never have before. This hospital that we’re coming from? Guess what. It’s just our luck. We’re coming from the busiest and most crowded ER in this country, at prime time on a Monday. Guess which hospital.” 

TC sighed and rolled his eyes, “They’re all coming from Silverstone, aren’t they.” 

The fireman nodded and said, “Team isn’t big, but it will do for a thrown together Level 1 Trauma Center. Why don’t we get them all unloaded and we can assess who goes first.”

TC nodded and gestured for them to enter the loading bay. He went inside, to see who, if anyone, he had left of his own staff. It would be weird working with other doctors who would normally bypass his own level by millions, and leading them. He was a good doctor, that was true, but he was a military doctor, not a mass-causalty doctor. His own leader had told him that the warzone and this was almost the same, but of course, it wasn’t even similar. He gave each person a glance as they walked in. They all seemed ready, but they were unfamiliar with the setup and he didn’t know the ETA of the first ambulances. 

He looked at his new attendings, and said, “I hope that all you residents are ready to jump head-first into the life of an unconventional attending, because this hospital isn’t nearly as large or as stacked as yours is. We have our trauma bay, which only has about 50 beds for criticals only. Once they are stable, we are going to start to get unconventional and break all the rules. Move all stable non-emergent patients to the wings. Triage won’t be important until the patient is moved. Again, unconventional, but it’s what the situation calls for. Since you guys will mostly be treating your own people for quite a while, I’ve gone ahead and assigned patients. Now, I’ve shadowed enough days and talked to enough of your attendings and residents to know who is best to pair with who. I will warn you that this will be harder than any shift you’ve ever done in your entire life. Your family is at risk here. Any major questions?” 

Dr. Leanne Rorish raised her hand, “Why aren’t we doing our own triaging? Is this how your hospital runs?” 

TC sighed and said, “One, I don’t normally run the hospital. Two, because I don’t want you just picking patients at random and losing structure. I’m assigning them as they are going to be brought in. Since all patients must be scanned and cleared to enter the building, there will be about a 5-10 minute wait between each admitted patient after the first round is in. Here is my order. Stay in order, please. Dr. Leanne Rorish, I want you Trauma Bay 1, Beds 1-10, and I want Mario on the OR. Then, I want my team up here stat! Jordan, man 11-20, Topher, you have 21-30. Neal, take 31-40, Christa, you’ll have beds 41-50. Dr. Pineda, you have emergencies and crash cart.” 

Leanne asked another question, her voice quavering very slightly, “TC, how many of ours are injured, missing, or dead?” 

TC looked down at his feet with a honestly pained look and mumbled, “Head nurse is second, Leighton is first, Guthrie is second. Most of the rest of the nurses, doctors, patients, and visitors are minor injuries. The bomb was focused on center stage, not on just civilians. Any big people you were treating on center stage?” 

Mario responded, “No sir, not that I remember.” 

TC replied, “Alright then. We have to assume that this is a terrorist attack then.” 

Sirens rang out into the silence between them, and suddenly, everyone started rushing to their stations, making sure that everything was prepped and ready for the influx of patients about to hit them. They were taking on one of the largest ER’s complete hospital load in a tiny 50-bed ER. It was an insane task, but everyone just wanted, and needed to get through the first 2 rounds because within those first critical 200-ish patients was 3 of their people. Three people from center stage were now being spread around in this tiny ER mixed in with other patients. As Leanne prepped her workstations, she suddenly had a flashback. She remembered the last time she saw Jesse sick, and that was his heart. She stood there, paralyzed by her mind. TC walked through the ER, checking on every station starting from the 50th bed. When he got to Leanne’s station, he saw her and immediately knew what was probably going through her head. 

He took Leanne into his arms and said to her, “Dr. Rorish. I know how you feel right now. I’ve felt the same thing. You’re ok, I promise.” 

Leanne began shaking and TC raise his voice a little, shaking her slightly, “Dr. Rorish, you need to snap out of this, ok? This kind of behavior won’t save anyone. I will be at your station this whole time.” Leanne finally snapped out of it and wiped her tears. 

She said quietly, “He’s all I got. He’s my family.” 

TC said gently, “I know how you feel. You yourself know that if he made it to second round, that he must at least be alive. Look, I’m here for you now. You’re not alone. I’ll be here for you now, and I will stay with you after this is all over as well. You just gotta treat everyone like they are like that. I know how you feel. In Afghanistan, my brother died on me while I was trying to save him.” Leanne nodded and finishing setting up her stations. 

TC said, “I’ll be staying over here. You’ll be receiving the unchecked and worst patients, since you are one of the biggest and most experienced doctors in your Trauma 1 team. You know how to work a gun, yes?” TC held out a gun and some cartridges. Leanne took it quickly. They began to rush patients in, running off vitals as fast as an auctioneer. TC and Leanne grabbed the first two gurneys and took a look. 

TC quickly said, “First patient to Bay 5, second to Bay 3. Let’s keep moving.” They kept this triaging going on almost consistently. Leanne suddenly gasped. 

TC looked down, “It’s Leighton. C’mon. We’re taking him in the first trauma room. You all need keep triaging yourself, got it?” 

The paramedic who was there nodded and said, “I’ll make a radio out. Thank you, by the way, for taking all these people at your ER.” TC nodded and ran back to where Leanne was working on Leighton. 

“Dr. Rorish, what’s happening here?” TC asked.

“Pulmonary barotrauma, abdominal hemorrhage, there’s an open leg fracture, burns, crush injuries to the right arm, lots of shrapnel in his injuries,” Leanne said quickly. 

TC said, “We need to put in a chest tube. Can you do that while I cut open his stomach to get to the bleeding?”

Leanne nodded and grabbed the kit. “Can we get an ultrasound in here?” 

A police officer grabbed one and said to them, “Need any help? Some of us officers and some of the firemen who have significant medical training are your nurses until we can get some from some of the other hospitals from other states. The problem is that we can’t take any from anywhere around here because they could get attacked too.”

Leanne nodded and said, “Of course, of course. We’re fine with that.” She pushed the needle in and heard the hiss of air. She let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding.

“How’s it going down there Dr. Callahan?”

“It’s good. I think I found the bleeder. Let me just clamp it. Going to place the suture in now. We are done now. Let’s get to the ER now for the leg,” TC said, while working. They began to rush him to the ER and check on the rest of the patients in this wing. 

An EMT came in with another patient and announced, “We are almost done with our first 100. Good job everyone! Keep on going strong. This guy’s number 97.” 

TC quickly exclaimed, “Yes! We’re doing amazing you guys! Once we get to the second round, we will get more breaks and people won’t be rushed in so fast. Everyone from the one hundred and first patient will have about a five to ten minute gap of space in between because these are people who aren’t one heartbeat away from death and they all need to be scanned and checked for any bombs. I found out who the first round two patient will be. Name is Jesse Sallander, and I’m sure that you know him.” Everyone whooped and cheered when they heard that. “Now, let’s focus now on the patients we have here right now, so that when they bring him in we can have all eyes on him. They want to clear out the ER before they start bringing in the Round Twos, so if your patient ain’t gonna die in the next 24 hours, move them to the Adult West wing. If they are stable and in recovery, take them to Adult East. If your hands are a bit tied up right now, ask a EMT, fireman, or police to help you out. They don’t have to be medically trained. Try to save the medically trained for down here. We’re importing some nurses from Nevada and Oregon, and we’ve got a ton of trained vets and army nurses and doctors headed our way. Send all stable children down to pediatrics right now. We’ve got pediatricians from all over the city coming in to help. We are now the biggest and busiest ER in this country. All the Silverstone patients are being redirected here, and anyone in the city are all being sent here because we are the only ER running at this moment. All other trauma centers and hospitals have shut down, likely for the week, so we might not get much sleep for the next month. The rest of this hospital’s staff is at a safe, undisclosed location. Get to work people!” Everyone began to run and get to work. Gurneys went all over the place as people worked their hardest to turnover everyone and clear the ER to get Jesse in. Finally, they managed to get everyone out. TC walked outside, but as he passed the door, gunfire immediately started. He squatted down and ran to the security checkpoint. He grabbed the first guard he saw by the collar and demanded, “What is going on here? I thought you said you had secured this place in and out and that there wouldn’t be anyone. Why am I getting shot at?” 

Another guy grabbed TC and said, “They targeted you. They must have been there from before we got into place. Must have missed them, or maybe they’re snipers.” 

TC turned around and got in that guy’s face and screamed, “I saw him. I watched him shoot at me. I saw him clearly. You need to get the shooters down now because the next man coming from Silverstone is their head nurse. He’s their people. They have another one of theirs coming in. If you don’t secure that entrance in the next ten minutes, I will do it myself.” 

The man said, “TC, we only have 11 men here. We don’t know how many shooters there are. It’s safer for to smuggle you back in as a patient and get more people in there to treat them. Like he said, they are probably only targeting doctors.”

TC shook his head and took a step back, “No. I will not risk that. I might not have worked with these people for very long, but now I am. They are part of my team now, and my team is my family.”

“Look, I know that you are very passionate TC, but you need to just listen to us. We have more experience—”

TC growled at them, “Three tours in Afghanistan and you think that you still have more experience than I do? Listen. This hospital is no longer just a building to me. These people are no longer just strangers to me. If they are coming from Silverstone, then they are my family. Either you come with me and you help me, or you let me go alone and eradicate this threat myself.”

“TC, we want to help, but we also have to secure this entrance. We can’t just leave because you want to get yourself killed. We’re sure you have plenty of experience from the war, but we don’t want to risk the death of the best doctor in this ER, ok?” TC, after hearing that they were not going to help him, quickly disarmed the man and grabbed his gun.

“Your experience must not have been in a warzone. You just let someone take your gun without even trying. That’s a little sad,” TC said, examining the gun, “Do you all have the same gun?”

“No, I have the one you are holding, which is, as you probably can tell, a Ruger .45 Auto. The people up front all have Glock 9mm pistols.”

TC nodded and said, “Thanks man. Here, have you gun back.” He started jogging toward the front. He saw one of the men who were standing there, and tackled him. That man would not go down without a fight, though, so there was a minute or two of wrestling before TC finally had the gun in his hands. He began to run back to the hallway that he came from. He stood back to the wall, waiting for the right moment. He took a deep breath before swinging around, letting out a few shots and swinging back. Everyone was anxiously watching, praying that TC wouldn’t get himself killed, but that TC would succeed. No one wanted to stop TC, because they wanted him to make it safe enough to bring Jesse in, but they didn’t want him to keep going either, because he was their best doctor under a normal circumstance, but with Leanne in a precarious emotional state, and Jesse down, he was definitely the strongest one there.

TC continued this pattern until he had to step away for a second. He hid behind the wall, breathing hard. He had killed 3 out of 4 men. This felt too much like Afghanistan to him, and it was starting to get to his mind. He could hear the gunfire still going on, and he knew it was getting closer. He flipped the corner again to shoot and suddenly saw a grenade. It was a homemade one, but just as dangerous. He saw his team watching with baited breath, and screamed, “Get back! All of you get back right now!” When he saw the bomb was seconds from exploding and that his team was probably going to be injured because they didn't have the kind of reflexes that he did, he ran across to corridor, fast and low, and luckily did not get shot. He pushed everyone back just as the bomb exploded. TC was thrown backwards forcefully into the counter behind him. He didn’t stay down for long, though, quickly getting up and shooting the last attacker. He panted as he collapsed against the wall. Leanne, Jordan, and Topher all ran over and kneeled next to TC. 

Topher asked quickly, “TC, are you okay? You hit your back pretty hard.” 

TC took a breath, “Yeah, I’ll be fine.” 

Jordan glared at TC and rolled her eyes, “TC…”

TC rolled his eyes and said, “I’ll get a CT, okay? Will that make you happy? Topher can take me up there himself, alright? Just have to make it fast. Next round is coming up in two or three minutes.”

Jordan responded, “Good. We don’t need our best doctor paralyzed.” She turned to one of the EMTs who had come in to assist and said, “Can you get me a backboard, a C-collar, and a gurney?” The EMT nodded and ran to get it. “TC, I know you think I’m over-exaggerating, but—”

TC placed his hand on Jordan’s and said, “I understand. If it had been you or Topher I would have done the same. But I don’t think the C-Collar and backboard are necessary because I’ve already moved from the site of the injury.” 

Jordan rebutted, “Actually, that’s more reason to use them because your movement could’ve shifted your spine if you have a spinal injury and any movement could disturb the spinal cord. TC, just let me do this, okay?”

TC muttered, “I guess I don’t have a choice, do I?” Jordan smiled and began strapping TC to the backboard. 

“Come on, Topher. Let’s get him up to radiology. We have to do this as quickly as possible because if someone dies while he’s up there, he’ll never forgive us.” Topher nodded and helped Jordan to get TC up onto the gurney and up to the CT machine. They ran the scan and Jordan came out and said, “TC, get up. Your spine is fine. Just a little bruising.” 

TC smiled and said, “Told ya. But you’re right. Safe is always better than sorry in emergency medicine. Now let’s get down there.”

Jordan hesitated for a second before saying, “TC, that didn’t mean that nothing was wrong. You have an internal bleed.” 

TC’s smile faded into pain and he said, “Well, then what are you waiting for? I guess it’s time to open up my belly.”

“TC, we know this must be rough,” Jordan started.

“Jordan, Topher, I’ll be fine, I promise. If I’m bleeding internally, then there’s only one thing that should be done in this case. Don’t bother with general anesthesia. Just use local.”

Jordan’s jaw dropped and she said, “But TC, it’s going to hurt you!”

“Jordan, if you put me under, it will be hours before I wake up. We’re already chronically short-staffed right now. Look, if you do the procedure, I promise I’ll take it easy afterwards, okay? I won’t tear the sutures or anything like that, and I can handle the pain, alright?”

Topher look sympathetically at TC and said, “Jordan, TC’s right. We need him down there. Just do it with Lidocaine and Morphine.” 

Jordan sighed and gathered the materials. She put an IV into TC and hooked him up to a morphine drip. Once TC’s abdomen was numb, she made the incision. She saw the pain on TC’s face, because Lidocaine and Morphine didn't completely stop pain, only reduced it. Jordan swallowed hard and said, "TC, I'm so sorry," to which TC could only nod and grunt. "Alright, let's find the bleeder now." Jordan suddenly exclaimed, "Oh mother-of-pearl." TC was starting to bleed like crazy. Blood flooded TC's abdomen. "Topher, get some O-Neg blood now!" 

TC weakly said, "No, Topher. Don't get O-Neg. Save that for the people coming in. My blood type is A-Positive. Get that instead." 

Jordan added, "Good idea. Get 6 units and make it fast. He's bleeding out. I think that he may have ruptured an artery or two." Topher nodded and ran to get the blood.

"TC, you have to stay with us now. Keep holding on."

"Jordan, if I don't make it, you have to go back to work, okay? Don't work for an hour to try and save me if my heart stops. They need you and Toph up there."

"TC, I refuse to give up on you. Even if you sign a DNR right now, that DNR can be cancelled due to impaired judgement. I promise you will be fine. I'll take good care of you and get you back up there. You won't miss a thing." TC weakly smiled as Jordan continued trying to find the bleed. "TC! I found it! I can't let go of it though." TC reached over and grabbed a clamp and handed it to Jordan. "I can't believe my surgical assistant is my patient." TC gave her a goofy grin before letting his hand rest by his side once again. Jordan sutured the artery and unclamped it, "Moment of truth!" She took a towel and dabbed the wound. 

Topher came running in and hooked up the blood to TC's IV. "How's it going?"

Jordan replied, "Not good. I got one bleed fixed up, but there's another and I can't find it. It just seems like blood is coming from everywhere. " 

TC mumbled, "Did you check behind the kidneys?"

"Shoot! How could I have missed that?" She clamped off the artery and sutured it. "Thanks TC. I think you just saved your own life." He let out a weak chuckle. "I'm going to close up and get you bandaged and then I'll let you go back to work, ok?" TC nodded and Jordan swiftly closed up and bandaged his torso. She helped TC up and said, "Leave the IV in for a while. We're still transfusing you with blood and fluids." 

TC nodded and said, "Alright, let's get back downstairs. We should only have one new patient, but he's probably the most vital patient we will get all day. He dies, we lose everyone from Silverstone and we cannot afford to lose anyone at this point." They all nodded and went downstairs. 

Leanne saw TC and grabbed him over. "TC, I need some help. He needs an emergency clamshell thoracotomy and we have a problem. You don't have a thoracotomy kit anywhere! No rib spreader to be found."

"Leanne, the other half of my team pretty much looted this place. That's why they left Toph and me here. Jordan was just to help us. You don't need a rib spreader to do a thoracotomy. Drape and prep. I'll be right back." TC grabbed Topher to help him, because he didn't want to risk tearing his stitches. When he returned, he pulled Leanne aside and began to explain, "What we are going to do is we are going to manually open his chest using our hands. I brought Toph because I don't want to tear my stitches." 

"Stitches? What stitches?"

"When I got thrown back from the explosion earlier, I started bleeding internally. That's why I'm hooked up to an IV right now."

Leanne nodded and they went back over to Jesse. Leanne asked, "Will this procedure cause any permanent damage?"

"Not when you have me on the case."

"You are barely alive! Who are you to be taking?"

"Ah, I'm used to working almost dead and and without any supplies. 3 Afghanistan tours does that to you."

"You served 3 tours?"

"Yep. That's how I knew how you felt. I lost my brother in my third tour. He was all I had left. I was an army doctor. Just trust Toph and me, okay?"

Leanne nodded and said, "Yeah. We better get started now."

TC nodded and turned to Topher, "Toph, I need you to put your hands on either side of the incision down the breastbone. Pull away to the outside. The ribs should be strong enough not to crack, as long as he is not suffering from any types of malnutrition. Dr. Rorish, does he have any underlying conditions that we should worry about?"

Leanne responded, "He's got a weak heart, but no malnutrition that I know of. But remember, I'm only his close friend. Even though we're called Momma and Daddy, we aren't married. It isn't even gender correct. I'm Daddy and this man on this table is their Momma. He helps them emotionally and keeps them from breaking down in the middle of working. He really takes care of them. I show them tough love and teach them what they really need to know to survive in an actual ER. That's why, although we lose the most residents, they end up with the best jobs."

TC nodded. This case was really starting to get to him. He knew how much this man mattered to his new team, so he started to feel for them. He saw how gentle Topher was being with Jesse's ribcage and said, "Toph, you aren't going to get anywhere being that gentle. I know you aren't that weak. You're doing more harm going so slow than you would just ripping it apart. Be careful, but not so gentle." Topher took a deep breath and gave the ribs a firm yank. "Good, good. Keep pulling them open, just a little more." The ribs moved a little more, and TC gave Topher a thumbs-up. “Dr. Rorish, come here. It's our turn. I trust that this isn't your first operation in the middle of the ER." 

"Trust me, Dr. Callahan, I've almost been fired on several accounts because I did way too many OR procedures in the ER," Leanne said, as she waited for Topher to move behind Jesse's head to hold the ribs open, but stay out of the way. 

“Same here. I actually managed to get suspended. I had a PTSD breakdown in the ER. They tried to fire me before that. They didn't like the way I kept operating in the ER and doing procedures without permission.”

Leanne laughed and said, “Same here. Now let's get this bleeding stopped.” 

TC leaned over Jesse's body and poked around for a bit before finding it and saying quickly, “Dr. Rorish, clamp?”

Leanne nodded and handed it to TC. She admitted softly, “I couldn’t have done this if it weren’t for you, honestly. I can’t stop thinking about the last time Jesse got sick. It just hurts, so much. He’s my family and he’s all I got, T.”

TC swallowed hard, stepping back and dropping his head in grief. He said, with the pain of his brother’s death weighing upon his shoulders, “Dr. Rorish, this isn’t easy for me either, trust me. It brings back painful memories that I never would want to bring back up.” He took a deep breath before stepping forward reassessing the surgery site. “Suture.”

Leanne shook her head in amazement about at how easily TC was able to refocus himself from thinking and grieving about his brother to focusing on the patient in front of him. It had taken that poor man less than a minute to tune his mind back in, with an active, current patient in front of him, but she couldn’t even snap out of her own mind when she was doing a set-up. 

“Dr. Rorish! Suture please! You can daydream later. Right now, we need to work on saving Jesse, alright? We don’t have all day,” TC said, slightly frustrated.

Leanne jumped, his voice surprising her. She grabbed the needle and handed it to TC, her hand shaking slightly. She stammered out, “I-I’m sorry. I was lost in thought.”

TC grabbed the needle and made his stitches. He took a deep breath and said to Leanne, “Okay, so he’s stable. Looks good from here. If you have no further objections, then I will have him sent down to Ortho.”

Leanne nodded and said, “Go ahead.”

TC called out to one of the waiting EMTs and said, “Hey, call Ortho, tell them we just did another thoracotomy and need them to close up.”  The EMT responded, “You got it!”

As they wheeled Jesse away, TC said to Topher, “Toph, check the ETA of the next patient. I need to have a word with Dr. Rorish. Next patient goes to someone else, please, unless they’re dying and need immediate surgery. ‘Kay?” 

Topher responded, “Got it,” and he left to take care of that.  

TC grabbed Leanne by the arm and pulled her aside. He looked into her eyes and stared down at her. He held her by the shoulders and said to her very firmly, “I know that you are going through a rough time right now, but you better get your mind here, or I will have to ask you to leave my ER. I cannot and will not tolerate that kind of behavior in any situation, let alone in this kind of catastrophe. If you cannot be helpful to me, then please get out.”

Leanne looked up at TC, a fire of passion in her eyes. She burst out, “This is the first ER you’ve ever ran. What would you know about running one? Maybe you’re right. Maybe I am a little out of it, but who are you to judge?”

TC spoke with the utmost calmness, “I went through the same thing that you are going through now. I don’t want it to escalate to the point that mine did. I don’t want you to break down, because I don’t want you to hurt yourself.”

Leanne shook her head angrily and stormed away.

TC called out, “Someone get her to Jesse’s room. Let her calm down there. Perhaps Jesse’s presence will help.” An EMT gently took Leanne by the elbow and led her away.

TC called down the hall, “Toph, how’s the ETA of the next patient?” 

Topher replied, “Still about ten minutes out, maybe longer, plus a probably ten to fifteen security. They’ve amped everything up because of the shooting.”

TC responded, “Got it. Keep an eye on things down here. I need to go check on Dr. Rorish. She’s having a bit of a mental breakdown. Almost lost her to PTSD a while back.” 

Topher nodded and said, “I know that you will definitely be a good help.”

TC smiled and jogged away. He headed down to the Recovery Ward. He saw Leanne holding Jesse’s hand and leaning over his chest and sobbing softly. Leanne’s whole body shook with her pain. He opened the door quietly and stood behind Leanne. He gently rested his hand on her back and said, “Leanne, he’s going to be alright. I promise you that. I will make sure of it, you got that?”

Leanne looked up at him, half-laughing, half-crying and said, “First off, you just called me Leanne for the first time since I’ve been here. Secondly, I know that you would do anything and everything to save him, and thirdly, that he is stable, at least as of now.” 

TC nodded and said, “Do you have any questions about what is happening? I know that you are a medical professional yourself, but your judgement may be clouded right now because of grief.”

Leanne replied, “I wasn’t paying attention to the clock. Do you know how long before he’ll wake up?”

TC replied softly, “Just a couple more minutes, Leanne, just a little longer.”

She nodded and bowed her head, sniffling. She looked back up at TC and said, “You know, this was all my fault. I had a mental breakdown, right before the attack. I stepped out and told Jesse to stay and keep my patient alive.”

TC replied, “What difference would that have made? You would have been injured and we would have had even fewer doctors.”  
Leanne shook her head and said, “No, no. The reason why so few people were actually injured directly from the blast was because Jesse actually called the emergency minutes before. He pulled the alarm and brought ninety percent of the patients outside. He was injured after going back in to make sure that all the criticals were out and that the walking patients were almost out. He was also making sure that all the physicians were out. Most people weren’t hit by the first bomb, they were hit by the second one.”

TC burst in, “Wait, there were two bombs?”

Leanne sighed and let everything out of her lungs. She explained, “I’m the only one who knows. I was going back in to find Jesse. I heard the muffled sound of the first bomb going off. I could barely hear it, so the people who were already outside must have not heard it. The first blast must have been the that hit Jesse. The second one exploded precariously near me, but luckily, I had started running towards center stage. It exploded behind me. I’m lucky I didn’t get hit. I heard the first explosion, ran towards it, heard the second. They were targeting us, just like they were targeting you. Mama was targeted, my residents were targeted, I was targeted, you were targeted. I have all the reasons in the world to believe that my residents and ourselves are not safe here.”

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry about the horribly quick pace in the beginning. I had a muse, and acted, maybe a little too fast. I ended on a little bit of a cliffy, but I promise I'll get the next chapter up soon!


End file.
